Saving the South Australian Museum. PSA Says: Go back to drawing board over ill-considered 'Reimagining'.

The Public Service Association (PSA) welcomed the announcement in late April by Premier Peter Malinauskas that the “reimagining” of the SA Museum is on hold and a special panel has been established to explore other options for the future operations of this leading cultural and scientific institution.

PSA General Secretary Natasha Brown said it was important to take the time to listen to the concerns of Museum workers and the community, and to determine the future plans for the Museum through genuine collaboration and consultation.

The PSA and our members look forward to working collaboratively with the Premier’s advisory panel to develop a way forward that achieves the goals of our members and the broader community and doesn’t place the important work being done by Research and Collections staff in jeopardy,

she said.

Any changes made at the Museum must ensure our members are supported in their important work in the ongoing discovery of knowledge and the appropriate care of the Museum’s priceless cultural and scientific collections.

Natasha Brown said it appeared that the Premier was also considering funding for the Museum.

We welcome the Premier’s acknowledgement that funding cuts through so-called ‘efficiency dividends’ have caused great damage to the Museum as they have to the public sector generally,

she said.

The PSA had earlier called on the state government to abandon plans to implement the radical restructure of the Museum, which would see an exodus of research and collections roles from this leading cultural instutiton.

A total of 27 FTE positions were targeted in a proposed grand plan – dubbed Reimagining the Museum – to be replaced with 22 FTE mostly lower-level new positions.

The proposal would effectively push out many of the research staff who have made a significant contribution to advancing scientific knowledge over many years, as well as custodians of priceless collections entrusted to the Museum.

Critics argued that the proposal would result in the once-proud institution becoming more of a theme park than a serious contributor to ongoing knowledge.

The Museum has an international reputation for its biological sciences research and has been praised by the likes of world-renowned naturalist Sir David Attenborough.

In February, former SA Museum Director, Professor Tim Flannery, came out strongly against the proposed changes.

Natasha Brown called on Minister for Arts Andrea Michaels to step up to prevent an enormous amount of damage to the Museum and the wider community.

We called on the government to halt the unimaginative “Reimagining the Museum” and for Museum management to go back to the drawing board and find a solution that doesn’t destroy vital elements of the Museum,

she said.

RESEARCH PARTNERSHIPS ABOLISHED

SA Museum researchers contribute hundreds of academic publications each year and have secured many millions of dollars in grants and industry support for their work. They have discovered more than 1000 new species, including 46 now listed as threatened.

Included among the staff whose roles were in scope to be axed in the “reimagining” are world-class scientists undertaking cuttingedge DNA research on the collections.

But under the plan, research partnerships with universities locally, interstate and internationally would cease.

Staff have already been banned from applying for Australia’s major Commonwealth grants. This includes the Australian Biological Resources Study (ABRS), a scheme specifically focussed on species discovery and biodiversity – a core pursuit of all world-class natural history museums.

The restructure proposal followed the appointment of a new Director – now known as Chief Executive Officer – Dr David Gaimster, who was charged with implementing the changes at the behest of the Museum Board, chaired by businessman Kim Cheater, a former Managing Partner with consulting firm PwC.

Natasha Brown said researchers and collections managers at the SA Museum played a crucial role in generating new knowledge.

Our members feared their ability to continue to practise in their areas of expertise would be severely curtailed under the new plan,

she said.

The ‘reimagining’ proposal represented a weakening of the Museum’s capability, and it also presented curatorial staff with huge workloads, with some positions so broad that they would cover, for example, all landbased animals.

A 2023 internal review of the Museum’s science and research programs involved interviewing a small number of Museum staff. There was no apparent consultation with broader stakeholders or long-term research partners.

There also seemed to have been a failure to consult with First Nations communities and individuals about the care and protection of their cultural heritage and sensitive materials, and how this could be continued in a First Nations-led culturally respectful way under the proposed changes,

Natasha Brown said.

COLLECTIONS UNDER THREAT

Key among the functions of the Museum, as set out in the South Australian Museum Act 1976, are “to carry out, or promote, research into matters of scientific and historical interest” and “to accumulate and care for objects and specimens of scientific or historical interest”.

If this proposed restructure were to be implemented, there was a very real risk of deterioration and loss of important cultural, historical and scientific material,

Natasha Brown said.

Members have concerns about how the Museum’s existing collections would be maintained and managed should there be an exodus of experienced and qualified staff, and with the move to broadening the curatorial and collection duties of remaining staff.

In fact, the Museum may not be able to comply with some of its key responsibilities under the South Australian Museum Act.

What was being proposed was a radical transformation of the SA Museum, which if implemented would have a very real impact on our ability to gain and retain knowledge about our world.

In April, PSA members and staff joined around 500 Museum supporters for a rally on the steps of Parliament House.

Natasha Brown addressed the rally, highlighting what was at stake if the proposal were to proceed, including the “loss of the museum’s reputation as a world leader in biological science research”.

“The proposed changes could see the exodus of a collective 474 years of expertise from the museum,” she told the rally.

URGENT FUNDING NEEDED

Natasha Brown said South Australia was experiencing a period of great prosperity at the moment, and cultural institutions such as the SA Museum should enjoy some of the benefits of that prosperity.

This is a great opportunity for the museum to truly reimagine itself as both a worldclass research institution and a state-of-the art protector and promoter of cultural and scientific knowledge through new displays and exhibitions,

she said.

Editor’s Note: In April, the PSA lodged an industrial dispute with the SA Museum over consultation around the restructure. The matter was due to go to arbitration before the South Australian Employment Tribunal in late May.